


Like Water

by fourthage



Category: Naruto
Genre: Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-27
Updated: 2010-03-27
Packaged: 2017-10-08 08:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/74860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fourthage/pseuds/fourthage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Temari thinks love is like water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Water

Temari thinks love is like water, precious and not to be wasted. She was nonplussed by the girls in Konoha, by the way they threw the word about like they had an endless supply of it. Temari shares her love with only two people.

The first of these is Kankuro, the elder of her two younger brothers. He takes his share matter-of-factly and returns it in equal portion. The flow between them is quiet but strong. Those from other villages say they have no family feeling, but children of the desert know the purest water is buried deep. Neither Temari nor Kankuro speak of the love they wasted on their father.

The second person Temari gives her love to is her youngest brother, aptly named Gaara of the Desert. He drinks her love like a man lost there for days, and all she receives in return is the rare blossoming of his smile. Temari doesn't resent the inequality. She knows her father poisoned Gaara's supply years ago, a crime she will not forgive. Perhaps she and Kankuro can give him enough of their own that Gaara can have a second, untainted reservoir, to share as he will.

Temari does not love Shikamaru, the Konoha ninja who bested her with one breath and conceded his victory with the next. He is too unpredictable, a cloud that promises rain but drifts haphazardly with the wind. Water in the sky is useless, and Temari is no fool.

She is seventeen the first time she sees fog. A freak weather pattern brings the clouds down to cover the village, and the air is so thick she can almost drink it. There is water on Temari's cheeks that night, and it is not for her brothers.


End file.
